DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Drawings
Figures 2 and 3 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “housing” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “farthest apart” in claim Claims 3 and 17 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “farthest apart” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. In the instant case, how far-apart distance will be considered the “farthest apart” in the vertical direction of the display. Examiner will consider any non-overlapping wiring pattern meet the claimed limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant Admitted Prior Art, (hereinafter, AAPA) in view of LEE et al. (US 2019/0361555), (hereinafter, LEE).
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RE Claim 1, AAPA discloses in FIGS. 2 and 3 display panel, which applicant identify as existing art [0023, 0024 and 0033-0035], having a functional region “HH”, a packaging region “TB” surrounding the functional region “HH”, and a display region “AA” surrounding the packaging region “TB”, referring to FIG. 3 above, the display panel comprising:
a substrate 11;
a plurality of metal layers “first gate metal layer 15/second gate metal layer 17/source-drain metal layer 20/first drain metal layer 22/anode layer 24” and a plurality of insulating layers 16/18/21/23/25 above the substrate, wherein at least one of the insulating layers 19 is disposed between two adjacent metal layers, referring to FIG. 3;
at least two adjacent first wirings 151(15) “first gate”/ S1, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, wherein the first wirings 15/S1 are disposed in the display region “AA”, and each of the first wirings 151(15) “first gate”/ S1 includes a first sub-wiring and a second sub-wiring extending in a same direction and separated by the functional region “HH” and the packaging region “TB”, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3; and
at least two adjacent windings 71/74 connected between a corresponding first sub-wiring and a corresponding second sub-wiring respectively, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3;
wherein the plurality of insulating layers comprise a first-type insulating layer, which is implicitly met, the two adjacent windings 71/74 are respectively disposed in different metal layers “first gate metal layer and second metal gate layer” among the plurality of metal layers, referring to FIG. 3, and the first-type insulating layer is disposed between the two adjacent windings in a thickness direction of the display panel.
AAPA does not discloses first-type insulating layer made of an organic material.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LEE discloses a display device comprising: a substrate including an emission region and a non-emission region; at least one transistor disposed on the substrate; a display element layer including a light emitting element disposed to correspond to the emission region and a spacer disposed to correspond to the non-emission region; and a touch sensor disposed on the display element layer. The touch sensor may include a base layer including a sensing region and a non-sensing region, a plurality of touch electrodes provided in the sensing region, and an insulating pattern disposed to correspond to the spacer. The insulating pattern and the spacer may have the same thickness. Some of the touch electrodes may be disposed on the insulating pattern, wherein organic and inorganic materials are use in a multilayered interlayer dielectric layers of metal layers such as IL1 and IL2, wherein IL1 “first dielectric layer” is formed of an organic and inorganic materials and IL2 “second dielectric layer” is formed of organic materials [0078 and 0081].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application, to use an organic dielectric layer to be disposed between the two adjacent windings in a thickness direction of the display panel, in order to reduce winding of display structure as disclosed by LEE [0081].
RE Claim 2, AAPA does not discloses display panel, wherein the plurality of insulating layers further comprise a second-type insulating layer made of an inorganic material, and the first-type insulating layer and the second-type insulating layer are disposed between the two adjacent windings in the thickness direction of the display panel.
However, LEE discloses a display including a touch sensor, wherein the touch electrode TE1 is separated for the connection line CNP1 by a dielectric layer IL1 that is made of one organic layer and an insulating inorganic layer [0078], hence multilayered organic/inorganic insulation layers are separating multiple stacked conductive layers in a thickness direction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to have the plurality of insulating layers of AAPA further comprise a second-type insulating layer made of an inorganic material, and the first-type insulating layer and the second-type insulating layer are disposed between the two adjacent windings in the thickness direction of the display panel, similar to LEE’s disclosure in order reduce fringing field effects between different metal layer, hence reducing fringing field effects between the two adjacent windings in the thickness direction.
RE Claim 3, AAPA discloses display panel, wherein a layer structure of the display panel comprises an anode 24 disposed above the substrate 11, the plurality of metal layers are disposed between the substrate and the anode 11, and the two adjacent windings 71/74 are in two metal layers farthest apart in the thickness direction of the display panel, since the windings 71 and 74 are non-overlapping in the vertical direction, referring to the U.S.C. 112 rejection above, hence meeting the claimed limitation.
Claim(s) 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant Admitted Prior Art, (hereinafter, AAPA) in view of LEE et al. (US 2019/0361555), (hereinafter, LEE) and in further view of SHIN (US 2022/0077193), (hereinafter, SHIN).
RE Claim 15, AAPA discloses a display device, comprising a display panel, which applicant identify as existing art [0023, 0024 and 0033-0035], having a functional region “HH”, a packaging region “TB” surrounding the functional region “HH”, and a display region “AA” surrounding the packaging region “TB”, referring to FIG. 3 above, the display panel comprising:
a substrate 11;
a plurality of metal layers “first gate metal layer 15/second gate metal layer 17/source-drain metal layer 20/first drain metal layer 22/anode layer 24” and a plurality of insulating layers 16/18/21/23/25 above the substrate, wherein at least one of the insulating layers 19 is disposed between two adjacent metal layers, referring to FIG. 3;
at least two adjacent first wirings 151(15) “first gate”/ S1, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, wherein the first wirings 15/S1 are disposed in the display region “AA”, and each of the first wirings 151(15) “first gate”/ S1 includes a first sub-wiring and a second sub-wiring extending in a same direction and separated by the functional region “HH” and the packaging region “TB”, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3; and
at least two adjacent windings 71/74 connected between a corresponding first sub-wiring and a corresponding second sub-wiring respectively, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3;
wherein the plurality of insulating layers comprise a first-type insulating layer, which is implicitly met, the two adjacent windings 71/74 are respectively disposed in different metal layers “first gate metal layer and second metal gate layer” among the plurality of metal layers, referring to FIG. 3, and the first-type insulating layer is disposed between the two adjacent windings in a thickness direction of the display panel.
AAPA does not discloses first-type insulating layer made of an organic material.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LEE discloses a display device comprising: a substrate including an emission region and a non-emission region; at least one transistor disposed on the substrate; a display element layer including a light emitting element disposed to correspond to the emission region and a spacer disposed to correspond to the non-emission region; and a touch sensor disposed on the display element layer. The touch sensor may include a base layer including a sensing region and a non-sensing region, a plurality of touch electrodes provided in the sensing region, and an insulating pattern disposed to correspond to the spacer. The insulating pattern and the spacer may have the same thickness. Some of the touch electrodes may be disposed on the insulating pattern, wherein organic and inorganic materials are use in a multilayered interlayer dielectric layers of metal layers such as IL1 and IL2, wherein IL1 “first dielectric layer” is formed of an organic and inorganic materials and IL2 “second dielectric layer” is formed of organic materials [0078 and 0081].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application, to use an organic dielectric layer to be disposed between the two adjacent windings in a thickness direction of the display panel, in order to reduce winding of display structure as disclosed by LEE [0081].
Furthermore, AAPA does not disclose a housing, wherein the display panel is housed in the housing.
However, in the same field of endeavor, SHIN discloses a display module and a mobile terminal, including housing and a display panel housed therein, referring to FIG. 1C [0048-0051].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to have the display panel of AAPA to be housed in a housing in order to use it a mobile device application such as smart phone similar to SHIN’s module.
RE Claim 16, AAPA does not discloses display panel, wherein the plurality of insulating layers further comprise a second-type insulating layer made of an inorganic material, and the first-type insulating layer and the second-type insulating layer are disposed between the two adjacent windings in the thickness direction of the display panel.
However, LEE discloses a display including a touch sensor, wherein the touch electrode TE1 is separated for the connection line CNP1 by a dielectric layer IL1 that is made of one organic layer and an insulating inorganic layer [0078], hence multilayered organic/inorganic insulation layers are separating multiple stacked conductive layers in a thickness direction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to have the plurality of insulating layers of AAPA further comprise a second-type insulating layer made of an inorganic material, and the first-type insulating layer and the second-type insulating layer are disposed between the two adjacent windings in the thickness direction of the display panel, similar to LEE’s disclosure in order reduce fringing field effects between different metal layer, hence reducing fringing field effects between the two adjacent windings in the thickness direction.
RE Claim 17, AAPA discloses display panel, wherein a layer structure of the display panel comprises an anode 24 disposed above the substrate 11, the plurality of metal layers are disposed between the substrate and the anode 11, and the two adjacent windings 71/74 are in two metal layers farthest apart in the thickness direction of the display panel, since the windings 71 and 74 are non-overlapping in the vertical direction, referring to the U.S.C. 112 rejection above, hence meeting the claimed limitation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-14 and 18-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YASSER ABDELAZIEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-5783. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 am - 6 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Leonard Chang can be reached at (571)270-3691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YASSER A ABDELAZIEZ, PhD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898